Champion Rea seals final World Superbike pole of the year

Full Qatar World Superbike qualifying results

Jonathan Rea has claimed the final World Superbike pole position of the season by bolting early using the Pirelli qualifying tyre in Qatar.

The reigning World Superbike champion was the first rider to head out with his Pirelli qualifying rear in the closing minutes of the session to take advantage of a quiet Losail International Circuit to produce a 1m 56.246s to set the marker to beat.

Alex Lowes, who held provisional pole after the opening runs, got closest but couldn’t bridge a 0.185s gap to leave him second on the grid on his final appearance for Pata Yamaha before heading to Kawasaki this winter.

Sandro Cortese completes the front row for GRT Yamaha on his final outing for the team to edge out Tom Sykes on the BMW, with Ten Kate Racing Yamaha’s Loris Baz and Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam rounding out row two.

Alvaro Bautista struggled to replicate his race pace for Aruba.it Racing Honda down in seventh place but did qualify ahead of both Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark and BMW’s Markus Reiterberger.

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s poor qualifying trend continued in Qatar with 10^th place for Puccetti Kawasaki with Leandro Mercado in 11^th for Orelac Racing Kawasaki.

Chaz Davies, Friday’s fastest rider, also struggled in qualifying as he could only reach the back of the fourth row for Aruba.it Racing Ducati.

Leon Camier continues to head up the Moriwaki Althea Honda charge in 13^th place ahead of Jordi Torres on the Pedercini Kawasaki and Barni Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

Eugene Laverty also struggled in qualifying for Team Goeleven Ducati down in 16^th place but ahead of Marco Melandri who retires from racing at the end of this season.

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda), Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Honda) and wildcard Dominic Schmitter rounded out the qualifying places.